Baseball Picks Up CAA Player, Coach Awards

Posted: May 22, 2009 at 1:00 am, Last Updated: November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

Mason ran through the Colonial Athletic Association this year, easily winning first place in the conference’s regular season. On May 19, Mason players were honored throughout the evening at the CAA Tournament Banquet.

Mason senior outfielder Scott Krieger and junior catcher Chris Henderson went home as CAA Co-Players of the Year, while Henderson was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Bill Brown was named the CAA Coach of the Year.

The last time a Mason player was named CAA Player of the Year was in 1992.

Henderson ranked second in the CAA with a .427 batting average and was also second in the conference in batting average (.427), hits (90), runs (65), doubles (21) and total bases (154).

He is a semifinalist for the Howser Trophy, the national Player of the Year award and the Bench Award, which is given to the nation’s top catcher.

He is on pace to break the school record for hits in a season and challenge the CAA record as well. He is also the third player in CAA history to receive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year accolades in the same season.

He made just two errors all season and threw out 21 of 59 attempted base stealers. He also helped guide a Patriots’ pitching staff to a 4.15 team ERA, the top mark in the CAA and one of the best marks in school history.

Krieger is the nation’s active leader in career home runs, RBIs and total bases. He leads the CAA in home runs (18) and RBI (76) on the season, and he is on pace to challenge the school record for RBI in a season.

He is first all-time in the CAA in career RBI (234), second in home runs (67), third in runs (222) and fifth in hits (297). Krieger is Mason’s all-time leader in all of those categories.

Coach Brown picks up his CAA-record sixth Coach of the Year award and his second straight. He was previously named Coach of the Year in 1987, 1992, 1993, 2004 and 2008.

Brown has guided Mason to a Division-I school-record 40 wins. The Patriots currently own the top winning percentage (.800) in the nation.

Mason has not lost a CAA series all year and had a school-record 25-2 mark at home.

Joining Krieger and Henderson on the All-CAA first-team were first baseman Justin Bour and starting pitchers Kevin Crum and Mike Modica.

Crum is 8-3 with a 3.98 ERA, while Modica is a league-best 10-1 with a 4.16 ERA. He also leads the league in opposing batting average holding players to a .227 average. Bour is hitting .342 with 17 home runs and 62 RBI.

Two other Mason players received All-CAA honors. Shane Davis was named second-team at designated hitter, and Ryan Soares was named third-team at second base.

The Patriots are currently in the midst of the double-elimination CAA Tournament in Wilmington, N.C. They have a 6-5 win against Delaware under their belt. They take on Old Dominion, which lost to UNCW 7-5 on Wednesday, at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.